I don’t know, this just struck me as a weird way of putting it. It seems to mean that 100% of British Muslims have 0% tolerance of homosexuality, which we know is not true of course – given that there are unfortunately some Muslims who try to justify it. I know some people may argue with me that people who justify major sins are not truly Muslims, but I’d point out that (a) one shouldn’t engage in casual takfeer, and (b) I’m sure Gallup weren’t engaging in such a question-begging exercise!

Which leads onto the question about what this “tolerance” is supposed to mean. Personally, I tolerate (unhappily) the presence of homosexuality in our society the same way I tolerate (sadly) the existence of atheism and worship of false gods. People generally have a “live and let live” attitude – though I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong to campaign for what you believe in. The sense in which I am not tolerant towards homosexuality is when I consider its standing morally, i.e. religiously. There are so many nuances to this discussion which just don’t come across in polls, let alone media reports on those polls.

I’m just glad they wrote “homosexuality” in the headline rather than saying “zero tolerance of homosexuals”, because the last thing we need is more suggestion that British Muslims are just waiting for their chance to execute gays! Remember this one? “London Muslims overwhelmingly oppose gays”

A Unique Perspective

Here we discuss the concept and emergence of "Gay Muslims", considering that homosexual activity is clearly forbidden in Islam. We kindly advise Muslims struggling with same-sex attraction, affirming that nobody is sinful for what they feel inside. As for those people who try to distort the religion, we refute them soundly with evidence.